Political parties condemn violence during farmers' rally

New Delhi: Expressing anguish over the violence in the national capital during the farmers' tractor parade on Tuesday, the Congress said there is no place for such incidents in a democracy, even as it urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to "shun arrogance" and repeal the three farm laws.

Putting the onus of Tuesday's events on the government and questioning it for not accepting the farmers demands, Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said it was not right on the government's part to create a facade of talks and yet, neither conceding to their demands nor proposing any solution.

"The Congress party believes that the 61-day-old face-off between the people and the system is not good for India's democracy. The message is clear that the country's people are anguished with the government. In such a situation, the Modi government will also have to shun arrogance and head the pleas of farmers," the AICC general secretary said in a statement.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi will have to shed his arrogance and tread the path of 'Rajdharma'. This is the true message of the 72nd Republic Day. Without any further delay, all three anti-farming black laws will have to be withdrawn. This is also the call of 62 crore 'annadatas' of the country," he said. The Congress leader also hailed the farm unions for dissociating from the day's violent incidents and hoped that they would follow the path of peace and non-violence to achieve their goal.

"Today, the Congress party and the entire country is pained by the violence and unruly incidents in Delhi. There is no place for such incidents in a democracy," he added.

"The agitators must keep their goal in mind. Non-violence and peace have remained the biggest strength of this farmer agitation. We sincerely hope that this farmer-labourer alliance will pledge to remain committed to a peaceful and non-violent struggle for the repeal of the three three anti-agriculture black laws," Surjewala said.

Left leaders also condemned the violence and squarely blamed the government for letting the situation deteriorate.

"The situation has been brought to this pass by the Modi government. Farmers have been protesting peacefully in the cold for more than 60 days, not allowed to come into Delhi and more than 100 kisans are dead," CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said in a tweet.

"Violence in no form is an answer & is unacceptable. A govt which smears dissent, BJP's troll army vilify those who ask for their rights, ministers make wild allegations, law officers make claims without basis in court -- this is no way to deal with legitimate demands of our Kisans," he said.

Yechury further said the three farm laws must be immediately repealed and the announcement to that should be made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself.

CPI general secretary D Raja too said violence was no way for either party to deal with the situation and also blamed the Centre for letting things go out of hand. "The farmers have been agitating for almost 60 days and it has been peaceful and nonviolent. When they were stopped at the borders, they sat there. Now after negotiations, they were allowed to have the rally on agreed routes, then why did the police not ensure that they took the designated path? The incident should have been averted. For this it is the government that is to blame," he said.

NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Tuesday called the violence during a tractor parade by farmers in Delhi as an indefensible act, but said one also cannot ignore reasons that led to the chaotic situation in the national capital as he warned against use of force on protesters.